Windmill



W. M01). ROWAN.

WIND MILL.

No. 557,893. PatentedApr. 7, 1896.

WITNESSES:

M T m V W Willie, wmzzzzowmb Au DREW BGHAHAM. RHUTQ-UTMQWASMINGTDNJL UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIE MCD.'RO\VAN, OF GARDEN CITY, KANSAS.

WlNDMILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 557,893, dated April 7, 1896.

Application filed July '7, 1894. Serial No. 516,783. No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, lVILLIE )ICD. ROWAN, of Garden City, in the county of Finney and State of Kansas, have invented a new and Improved lVindmill, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Hy invention relates to improvements in windmills; and the object of my invention is to produce an extremely simple and very strongapparatus of this kind which has asubstantial wind-wheel with rigid fans or blades thoroughly braced and whichhas a very simple and powerful gear mechanism for transmitt-in g power from the wind-wheel to a shaft from which the power may be taken.

To these ends my invention consists of certain features of construction and combina tions of parts, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accom panyin g drawings, formingapart of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a broken side elevation of my improved windmill. Fig. 2 is a detail view showing the manner in which the wind-wheel is braced. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of one of the wind-wheel fans or blades and its connected braces, and Fig. l is asection on line 4 4c of Fig. 1.

The windmill is provided with a substantial supporting-tower formed of the timbers 10, which are mounted on a suitable support and at their upper ends are tenoned in the top plate 11, the upper portions of the tower being also braced by the platform 12, which is secured to the timbers or legs of the tower by bolts 13, and this platform serves as a support for the hollow post 147 which has a baseflange to enable it to be securely bolted to the platform 12, side flanges 10 to enable it to be bolted to the plate 11, and an annular flange or head 17, forming a support for the main gear-wheel 20. The hub of the gear-wheel 20 fits over the head or flange 17 of the post 14:, and between the said hub and head balls 0- are arranged, the end of the head being recessed to receive the said balls, as clearly shown in Fig. 4:. The gear-wheel 20 is held to its seat on the post 14 by the vertical hollow shaft 19, provided with the head 18 and projecting down through the said post and provided with the nut 19 on its lower end. In a recess around the bore of the hub of the wheel 20, on its upper side, balls I) are held by the head 18 of the shaft 19. The gear-wheel 20 is a combined gear-wheel having vertical teeth on its periphery and also beveled teeth 21 on its upper edge, which teeth engage the bevel-pinion 22 on the horizontal shaft 23, which is carried by the wind-wheel and which by means of the pinions mentioned transmits power to the main gear-wheel.

The shaft 19 projects above its head 18, and to this projecting end of the said shaft the bearing 24 of the shaft 23 is secured, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. The bearing 24 has secured to it a curved brace 25, which is also secured to the bearing 26 of the tail or vane 27 which is hinged to the bearing 26 in the usual way and may be turned at right angles to the windwheel and shaft 23, so as to throw the'wheel out of the wind, or may be permitted to straighten out, so as to hold the wheel in the wind. The vane is pulled around so as to hold the wheel out of the wind by means of a cord or cable 28, which is secured to the vane and extends over suitable guide-pulleys and down through the tower in the usual way. This arrangement is not claimed as novel and is not shown in detail.

The wind-wheel 29 is provided with a series of concentric rims 30, which are arranged in pairs and are braced by radial braces 31, connected to the rims and to the elongated hub 32 of the wind-wheel. The rims 3O supporta series of rigid fans or blades 33, which are curvedslightly in cross-section and are placed radially in the wheel between the opposite pairs of rims 30, as shown in Fig. 1, and each blade is rigidly secured to a triangular brace, as shown in Fig. 3, which consists of the cross-brace 31 and the end piece 35, extending from one edge of the blade to one end of the cross-brace 34c and adapted to lie parallel with the flange of the wheel, the brace having at its ends bolts 36 to enable it to be fastened securely to the sides of the wheel, and thus furnish a rigid support for the blade The wheel is further braced by the braces 37, extending from the rims on the inner side of the wheel to the inner end of the hub 32, and also by the cross-braces 34 between the rims, as shown in Fig. 1.

It will be observed that when the windwheel revolves it will turn the shaft 23, to which the hub 32 is fastened, and the shaft will by means of the pinion22 and gear-wheel 2O transmit power to the gear-wheel 38, which meshes with the gear-wheel and is secured to the upper end of a vertical shaft 39, turning in a bearing at the top, which bearing is supported on an arm 41, secured to the top plate 11, and in a bearing 42, which is secured to one of the legs 10 of the tower.

The shaft 39 carries near its lower end a bevel gear-wheel 43, which meshes with a gearwheel 44L on a horizontal shaft 45, this being journaled in a framework 46, which also supports the lower end of the shaft 39, and the shaft 45 has a pulley 47, from which power may be taken in the usual way.

From the foregoing specification it will be seen that this windmill is extremely simple, is exceptionally strong, has a convenient means of transmitting power, and is not likely to get out of repair.

It will be understood that the shaft 23, and also the shaft 39, if desired, may be provided with ball-bearings to enable the mill to run easily.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A windmill, comprising a supportingtower, a hollow post carried by the tower, a

main gear-wheel carried by the post, a horizontal shaft supported above the post-top, a wind-wheel on the horizontal shaft, a vertical shaft geared to the main gear-wheel, and a counter-shaft geared to the said vertical shaft, substantially as described.

2. A windmill, comprising a tower formed of upwardly-converging legs, a platform fastened between the legs, a top plate on the top of the legs, avertical post having flanges to rest on the platform and top plate, a main gear wheel mounted on the post, a horizontal shaft journaled above the post and geared to the main gear-wheel, a rigid wind-wheel secured to the horizontal shaft, means for throwing it into and out of the wind, a vertical shaft geared to the main gear-wheel, and a countershaft geared to the second vertical shaft, substantially as described.

3. In a windmill, the combination with a tower and a hollow post carried thereby, of a main gear-wheel mounted on the post, a verticalhollow shaft secured in the post and projecting above the main gear-wheel, a bearing carried by the upper end of said shaft, a horizontal wheel-shaft mounted in said bearing, a gear-wheel on the wheel-shaft and meshing with the main gear-wheel,a counter-shaft, and gearing between the said counter-shaft and the main gear -wheel, substantially as described.

XVILLIE MCD. ROXVAN.

Vitnesses:

OLLIE B. MULLINs, J. B NIoHoLs. 

